So heavy…
Early in the morning, Koji felt something pressing down on his chest, making it hard to breathe. His nose also felt itchy, as if something were tickling it and fidgeting around. He snapped his eyes open.
Sakura?
Sure enough, Sakura was sprawled across his chest, her hair swaying back and forth against the tip of his nose.
What the…? There were clearly two beds in this room, and he was lying on his own. How had Sakura ended up over here?
"Sakura, wake up." Koji reached up and gently rubbed Sakura's head.
"Mmm…"
With a soft little groan, Sakura's sleepy eyes slowly fluttered open.
Poof.
The moment she locked eyes with Koji, her face instantly flushed red as she realized what was going on.
"Big… brother…" Sakura stammered, embarrassed.
Koji couldn't help finding it funny. "Alright, explain. What's going on?"
In a tiny voice, Sakura said, "I dreamed of that place again… I got scared."
It was Koji who had appeared and rescued her from that hell, who had brought her hope. Only when she was holding on to Koji did the fear finally fade.
"I see…"
Koji nodded. She was just a kid; he could understand.
…
That same day, Lumine came by. The moment she saw Sakura, the corner of her eye twitched.
This girl was clearly underage.
"I'm just gonna say it, Koji—you're really a criminal, you know that? Aren't you afraid of getting arrested?"
She felt it was her solemn duty to steer Koji back onto the right path and keep him from plunging into the abyss. She absolutely did not want to be sitting across from him one day with prison bars between them.
"What are you talking about?"
Koji's expression went black. He could tell Lumine's thoughts had gone completely off track. He was not that kind of degenerate.
Lumine, however, looked very serious. She lifted Sakura's soft little face and studied her carefully. Her instincts were screaming that something about Sakura's gaze wasn't right—it was clearly filled with a very special kind of feeling.
That said, from what she could see, Koji really didn't seem to have that sort of intention.
Sakura, sitting by the head of the bed, leaned over the quilt, eyes lowered. A faint, complicated gleam flickered at the bottom of her gaze—born of the special bond they now shared.
"Lumine, her name is Sakura. She's a child from the Matou estate."
Koji briefly explained Sakura's situation.
"So that's how it is. In other words, this is the Type-Moon world, and you've become a Servant now?" Lumine hugged Sakura into her arms.
She'd almost said something scolding, but after getting this context, she could only quietly sigh in her heart.
"I've watched Fate before. Never thought I'd actually end up in this world. Your six parameters must all be EX, right?"
She had once traveled on Earth and watched anime there. She really hadn't expected to visit one of those worlds in person.
"Yeah. I've got too many blessings; my stats all got dragged up with them." Koji nodded.
"By the way, you're in the Saber class, right? Then what class is the ahoge King—Artoria—and what kind of ending did she get?" Lumine asked curiously.
"Lancer. She's in the Lancer class—the knight who understands people's hearts."
Even as a king, Arthur was infamous for "not understanding people." The Lion King, on the other hand, did.
How to explain the difference was a matter of interpretation; everyone had their own view.
"Sakura, Lumine and I are going to leave this world someday. What are you going to do then?" Koji asked.
"I…"
Sakura opened her mouth, but no words came out.
She didn't know. The one thing she did know was that if she had to part from Koji, she would be unbearably reluctant. For a child, that kind of choice was simply too cruel.
"No rush. Take your time and think it over. Worst case, we can just beat the crap out of that scumbag father of yours."
Koji flexed his arm. As a father, Tokiomi was an absolute failure. Whatever his reasons had been, he had still handed his own daughter over to someone else.
It's not like he couldn't afford to feed her. Pinning all the blame for this whole ugly situation on him was honestly not exaggerated at all.
"I understand."
Sakura nodded. Over the next while, she was going to think long and hard about it.
As for the home she'd once had… to be honest, she didn't really want to go back.
…
"Fancy seeing you again."
Out on the street, Irisviel spotted Koji and the others and greeted them with a bright smile.
"Fuyuki City's this small. Of course we're going to bump into each other a lot." Koji replied in a completely unromantic tone.
Irisviel: "…"
How was she supposed to respond to that? Fuyuki really was small—she wouldn't have thought twice about it if he hadn't said it out loud like that.
"From what I know about modern times, talking like that is not the way to make girls like you," Artoria commented earnestly.
"Artoria, your figure is seriously something else," Lumine said as she stepped closer, openly giving Artoria a curious once-over.
Sure enough, the knight who understood people's hearts was built very differently from the King of Knights who didn't. Her figure really was amazing; Lumine's hands were practically itching to reach out and give her a squeeze.
"What do you mean by that?" Artoria frowned slightly.
"She's talking about the other you. If the King of Knights had been summoned as Saber, her figure would've been a lot more modest," Koji explained.
"I see. That makes sense."
Artoria nodded, enlightened. During the age of King Arthur, after she had pulled the sword from the stone, her body had essentially stopped growing. Of course it couldn't compare to how she looked now…
"Is Illya's situation similar?" Irisviel asked, intrigued. When they'd first performed the summoning ritual, she had expected a dignified male king. Instead she'd gotten a valiant but voluptuous female knight.
"There are similarities, Master. As you know, I'm not the Arthur from the normal historical timeline, so my body can continue to develop. The original Arthur's figure, on the other hand, is fixed," Artoria said seriously.
"I see…"
Because all the records in history described King Arthur as male, none of this had ever been mentioned. It was Irisviel's first time hearing about it.
"Ahem. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Lumine—Koji's girlfriend," Lumine said with a small cough.
At those words, Sakura's expression darkened a little.
So big brother really did have a girlfriend after all…
Artoria activated Clairvoyance, her gaze sweeping over Lumine, and caught sight of the blessings surrounding her. The corner of her mouth twitched.
She didn't even need to think about it—those were clearly granted by Koji.
"A traveler of the many worlds… you've witnessed quite a lot," Artoria said with some emotion.
Someone like Lumine could indeed be called both a witness and a recorder. After all, she wasn't easily influenced by the worlds she passed through.
"That's right. I've witnessed plenty of very meaningful events," Lumine declared, hands on her hips.
"To put it bluntly, you're just a blonde video camera," Koji, the ever-considerate boyfriend, suddenly undercut her.
"Wh–what do you mean, 'blonde video camera'?! That sounds awful!" Lumine snapped, glaring at him.
"You watch, you record—how is that not a blonde video camera? Unless you actually get involved yourself."
Starting from Natlan, the Traveler would finally be able to take part in events. Before that, she kept blacking out at crucial moments. It was a heartfelt tribute to the legendary Iron-Stomached Champion of Motion Sickness.
"With you around, I barely have any sense of participation in Teyvat at all," Lumine said helplessly.
Koji could handle every crisis on his own; there was never any need for her to lift a finger. So what "participation" was there to speak of?
On the other hand, it was incredibly relaxing. All she had to do was enjoy the scenery on their journey while Koji took care of everything else.
"I get it, I get it. I stole your spotlight. I've got the Blessing of Main Character Aura," Koji said with a completely straight face.
"There's no such blessing!"
Everyone spoke in unison, all of them black-lining. Just hearing it sounded ridiculous.
Koji merely smiled in silence.
For all they knew, such a blessing might really exist…
(End of Chapter)
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